The Power of Women: A Doctor’s Journey of Hope and Healing

Mukwege, a Nobel Prize–winning Congolese gynecologist specializing in rape injuries, debuts with a harrowing look at sexual violence in Congo and other conflict zones and a stirring call to combat the stigmatization of rape victims around the world. A child during the chaotic early days of Congo’s independence in the 1960s, Mukwege’s career was profoundly affected by escalating violence between Rwandan Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups and the First and Second Congo Wars from 1996 to 1998. To help treat women who had been sexually violated and abused during those conflicts, Mukwege developed a mental health–centered approach at the hospital he founded in 1999, and, in 2011, joined forces with V (formerly known as Eve Ensler) to open City of Joy, a treatment center where women are given counseling and support after suffering sexual assault. Mukwege also recounts the efforts of the Congolese government to silence him, and the threats and assassination attempts he has faced for trying to garner international attention for the plight of women in his home country, and details practical methods for educating boys and men about the scourge of sexual violence and rooting out misogynist attitudes in patriarchal cultures. This is a vital record of the suffering and resilience of Congolese women and a powerful exhortation to dismantle rape culture. (Nov.)